Edmond Bowers

Biography

Dr. Edmond P. Bowers is an assistant professor of Youth Development Leadership at Clemson University. Dr. Bowers received both B.S. and M.Ed. degrees from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College. Prior to arriving at Clemson, he served as a post-doctoral fellow and research assistant professor in the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development (IARYD) at Tufts University. Dr. Bowers also has experience teaching and working with students from the preschool to the graduate level, both in the U.S. and abroad. Framed by the positive youth development (PYD) perspective, Dr. Bowers’ primary research interest is on the influence of nonparental social supports (e.g., mentors, youth leaders, coaches, teachers, older peers) in promoting healthy and positive development in young people. Through this research agenda, Dr. Bowers has collaborated with researchers and practitioners to design, implement, and evaluate research-based programs and materials in diverse school- and community-based settings across the country.

Research Interest

My research is framed by the positive youth development (PYD) perspective, a strengths-based approach to development, which views youth as resources to be developed and not as problems to be managed. The PYD perspective sees all youth as having strengths by virtue of their potential for systematic change; in addition, the contexts in which youth are embedded (e.g. families, schools, neighborhoods, or out-of-school time activities) can provide resources for positive development. The PYD perspective suggests that thriving is possible for all youth by aligning their individual strengths with the resources present in their social and physical ecology.